06/10/2013

Why you should take the first job- even if it's not lucrative.

Adapted from Harvard Business Review.
Like
many parents, I am troubled by the growing fixation with
careers. We seem to be putting young people on the career treadmill at
an earlier and earlier age. Choosing extracurricular activities,
internships, and even preschool is increasingly undertaken with a
calculating
eye towards securing career success.

I held part-time jobs during college.
While I did pursue an internship related to my field of study, I also
worked as a busboy in a restaurant and as a cleaner in a
luxury goods store in order to pay tuition, rent, and other living
expenses. Looking back, there is no doubt that the non-professional jobs
taught me more.
At the restaurant, working among a highly diverse group — the staff
comprised a motley crew of varyingages, ethnicity/geographic origin,
educational background, and “life” experience — helped me realize that
people share important traits: Most of us had pride in our work, yearned
to be liked and respected by peers, sought to behave decently, and
nursed modest as well as grand dreams, if not for ourselves then for our
offspring.

Equally instructive was narrowing “gaps” with some colleagues. The
restaurant’s assistant manager — a tall, dignified man who was unlikely
to move up the managerial ranks because he didn’t have a college degree
— barely hid his contempt for me when I first started. Over time, as I
worked hard to prove that I belonged, he eased up and signaled his
approval through the occasional wink and pat on my shoulder. He even
started sharing with me his love of wine.

At the luxury goods store, it surprised and upset me that some
salespeople looked down upon me — and treated me as largely invisible
— simply because my job entailed cleaning the windows, vacuuming the
showroom, and polishing the brass door handles. That experience seared
into my brain the importance of according everyone — irrespective of
their occupation, stature or station in life — a modicum of respect and
regard.

Perhaps the most important life lesson from that period — though not
always remembered — was that it didn’t take much for me to be happy.
Young people certainly need to plan carefully to achieve professional
success in today’s highly competitive environment. But we mustn’t
forget that a life is distinct from — and lasts longer than — a career
and equal attention should therefore be given to building the foundation
for a successful life, including through jobs as a clerk, waiter, busboy,
or store cleaner.